Disney World’s 50th Anniversary – The Good, the Bad, and the UGLY

Well, it’s just about over.

Disney World’s 50th Anniversary Celebration is coming to an end. It’s been 18 months of blue and EARidescent EVERYTHING, but soon, many of the celebratory things will be going away forever. So we’re going to take a look back at some of these things to reminisce.

Some things about the 50th anniversary celebration were great, while others were…well…not so great. So let’s look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of Disney World’s 50th anniversary celebration

The Good

Parts of the 50th anniversary were fantastic, and we’re going to outline them here because these are the celebration details we’re going to miss most.

The Decor

One of the best things about the 50th celebration was all the beautiful decor. Cinderella Castle got a major EARidescent glow-up, which included a completely new paint job.

We also loved all the banners we saw AROUND Disney World’s resort, as well as the 50 golden character statues — the statues even interacted with MagicBand+ after it was released.

The decor was one of the highlights of the celebration.

Some of the Food

A LOT of new snacks were introduced for the 50th. That includes some of our favorites, like the Tropical Serenade and Wendell’s Bear Claw in Magic Kingdom, the Glimmer and Shimmer Blondie in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and the 50th Celebration Ice Cream Sandwich in Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Some of these snacks could stick around (we’ve already seen the Glimmer and Shimmer Blondie disappear, but return without its 50th decor).

Some Merchandise

Some of the merchandise celebrating the 50th anniversary was a lot of fun, too. We especially liked the Vault Collection, which channeled the look and feel of 1970s souvenirs. You could find those old-fashioned souvenir bells, plates, lunchboxes, shirts, and more.

We also LOVED the adorable Mickey Popcorn Bucket and Minnie Sipper.

Beacons of Magic

Each of Disney World’s park icons got a special nighttime look for the 50th celebration. The Tree of Life came to, well, life with fireflies. Both Cinderella Castle and Tower of Terror got EARidescent projections. But Spaceship Earth got brand new lighting, with little mini light shows that happen throughout the night.

We’ve got some good news — Spaceship Earth’s little lighting shows will continue even after the celebration. The lighting scheme is so advanced that Disney can even change it up for special events.

New Music

We even got new music for the 50th. That includes a brand new catchy theme song, “The Magic is Calling.” We also got a brand new castle show, Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire, that has some pretty amazing music.

Although not everyone is sad to see EPCOT’s nighttime show, Harmonious, go away, we will admit that the soundtrack for the show was incredible.

Character Outfits and 50th Cavalcade

One of the highlights of entertainment during Disney World’s 50th was the Mickey’s Celebration Cavalcade, which featured Disney’s most iconic characters dressed in their EARidescent costumes.

Those costumes were especially FABULOUS. You could even meet Mickey in his!

KiteTails

In a blink-or-you-might’ve-missed-it moment, Disney World introduced a kite-based show with Disney characters as kites in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The show proved to come with a lot of challenges (it’s hard to fly kites in rain, storms, and wind — which happens often in Disney World). But we’re saying it’s the best because it had a lot of funny fail moments.

First, Disney shortened the show. Then Disney got rid of it altogether. Oh, KiteTails, we hardly knew you.

Other Cute Touches

We have to mention some of the smaller and cuter details of the 50th. There was the 50th wrap around some of the Monorail trains, as well as around some Skyliner gondolas, and Disney buses.

Speaking of buses, some had cute 50th messages on their digital displays.

The Bad

Okay, where there’s good, there’s also bad, so let’s get to the things that just did NOT work for us during the 50th.

SO Much Blue Food

Disney World went a little overboard with the blue food coloring because we ate so much blue food during the first day of the celebration that our mouths and tongues turned blue.

There were also a lot of glittery things on food that we still found on our clothes days later.

Cinderella Carriage Halloween Wreaths

So when Halloween rolled around during the celebration, Disney World decided that instead of the cute Halloween Mickey pumpkin wreaths, it would put up Cinderella Carriage pumpkin wreaths instead — and it was just weird.

We get that these were supposed to be a nod to the 50th and fall together, but we just really missed the classic Mickey pumpkins. However, in 2022, we did notice that the traditional Mickey Halloween wreaths were back (but the Cinderella Carriage ones were still there, too).

Super-expensive Merchandise

We previously mentioned that some of the merchandise was great, but some of it was VERY pricey. We’re talking about a Jeweled Ear Hat that cost $1,000. OUCH.

There were also some Starbucks Tumblers that many Disney World visitors went nuts about — they were $50. These tumblers often sold out, though.

The Stuff We Didn’t Get In Time

Although Disney had promised that the “Hey, Disney” Alexa service would arrive in hotel rooms during the 50th, those are only available right now at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort.

Also, it’s a real shame that one of Disney World’s MOST anticipated rides, TRON Lightcycle / Run won’t even have its official opening day until AFTER the celebration has ended. Although the ride had a soft opening, it officially opens on April 4th.

The Ugly

Okay, so there were a few things that were worse than bad. Some parts of the 50th anniversary were downright ugly.

Crowds

The first day of the celebration was October 1st, 2021, and let’s just say there were a LOT of people in Disney World. It was pretty much a madhouse on that first day.

Not only that, but the shops were in complete chaos as people scrabbled to be the first to get their hands on 50th anniversary merchandise as soon as it dropped. Yep, October 1st, 2021, was not pretty.

Harmonious Barges

Although Harmonious was a good nighttime show, it left something ugly in the middle of World Showcase Lagoon. Where we once had a beautiful view of the other side of World Showcase, instead, the 50th brought these unwieldy barges that would be used for the nighttime show that just stayed there like an eyesore.

These barges will be going away soon, along with Harmonious, though.

Some Snacks

Not every 50th anniversary snack was a hit with us. Some were just boring — Disney took existing snacks and added some blue to them (Colossal Mickey Cinnamon Bun, we’re looking at you). Others, though, were terrifying. Be Our Guest Restaurant actually served something called Squid’s Revenge and it had a REAL charred octopus tentacle in it.

We guess they can’t all be hits, right?

Mad Dash Over Popcorn Buckets

Although we LOVED the 50th anniversary popcorn buckets, we weren’t the only ones. These things were POPULAR. For a while, we saw long lines at popcorn carts throughout Disney World of people trying to get their hands on the Mickey popcorn bucket and Minnie sipper.

The longest lines in Disney World were not for rides on October 1st, but for popcorn buckets.

So that’s enough reminiscing for now. Now we’re saying goodbye to the 50th Anniversary Celebration forever, but we’ll still have the Walt Disney Company’s 100th Anniversary to look forward to. We’re curious if we’ll see anything in the parks to celebrate like we’re seeing in Disneyland (we know that a new fireworks show is coming to EPCOT for the occasion!), but we’ll let you know about anything that comes up, so be sure to check back with AllEars for more!

How to SAVE BIG on 50th Anniversary Merchandise Before It Disappears from Disney World

Did you have a chance to visit Disney World during the 50th celebration? What were your favorite and least favorite parts of the celebration? Let us know in the comments!

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